major vs. minor on a chromatic harmonica
Your chromatic study songs are labeled as being in either D major or D minor, depending on the chord progression the band is playing. Easy Baby, for example, is in D major. But if the band were not playing, and Easy Baby, for example, were presented as a solo piece, wouldn’t it be in D minor? There are no F sharps in Easy Baby nor in any of your other chromatic harp pieces; no 2 or 6 draw is ever played with the slide in. Contrast this with So Blue For You, which has the band playing a minor chord progression. I don’t see any difference between So Blue and Easy Baby w.r.t. the notes being played, though one is called major and the other minor. So Blue uses flatted thirds on the I chords, and like Easy Baby, is a minor song that can be made to sound major if the band plays major chords. Is this analysis correct?
Thanks David. In my own words, to make sure that I understand this: Use of the major or minor third determines the major/minor quality of a chord, but not the major/minor quality of a blues line. The 6th is a requirement for creating the major sound. If the 6th isn’t used, the flatted 3rds and flatted 7ths tend to dominate the mood and make it sound minor. Is this the main key to controlling the major/minor feeling, to use the 6ths as a sort of switch?
The challenge is that blues, when played in "major," has a lot of minor elements, and for this reason it's very difficult to talk about blues in general established theory terms. It's generally known that when in minor, that you should stick to the minor scale 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7, though most harmonica players will not use the b6th at all (mostly due to lack of availability). The blues scale is the perfect fit, since the notes are generally available in all three positions. The chords the band is playing has b3rds, so you should also play the b3. When a song is in major, you can use minor elements. The lighter the sound from the band (less bluesy notes), the lighter you should play, emphasizing more major 3rds and 6ths (major 7ths are not too common for us). The darker the band plays (but not in minor), the more we'll lean towards using flat 3rds, 5ths and 7ths. Though the band commonly plays a major 3rd, it's acceptable to use a slightly-bent 3rd (known as a quarter tone) or even the b3rd. Many blues lines use the major 3rd preceded by the b3rd, so you can use both! Confusing, I know. It gets down to the darker the band plays, the darker you should play. If they use flat-3rds, then you should. If they use flat-7ths, then you should. If they play flat-6ths, you should, or avoid it if you don't have it available to you. Essentially the band dictates what can be played, and it's up to you how "outside" of the key you want to play for dramatic effect. Generally speaking, you can use minor again't major, but not major against minor. Also remember that a bluesy note is a note of tension... a note that doesn't match... so technically all notes are fair game, but historical precedence (the language of the blues) gives us some context of what sounds inside or outside. It would be great if we could be concrete about this stuff, but blues defies strict definitions.
Thank you so much for taking the time to give a detailed answer, I very much appreciate it. I had the idea that the predomiant use of either the m3 or M3 interval in the melody largely determined whether the piece had a major or minor feel. Moving on, you mentioned the different ways to play the 3 draw in 2nd position, depending upon what the band is doing, playing 3, 3’ or 3 quartertone bends as needed or desired. I’ve studied this topic in your songs, exercises and books and and have a pretty solid understanding of it. But when I look at the analogous situation when playing in D major on the chromatic harmonica, I don’t see these same variety of options being exercised. I would expect to sometimes see dips on the 2, 6 and 10 draw with the slide in, because isn’t a dip on the F# on a chromatic harp in 3rd position, roughly equivalent to a quartertone bend on hole 3 in 2nd position on a diatonic? Why don’t I ever see the analogous major thirds and dipped major thirds played in blues chromatic music, even as passing tones? I would think that at least dipped F#s would be common.
Even when I look at 3rd position diatonic studies, I also don’t see the major third being played or dipped very much, Blowin’ My Horn seems to be the only study where 2’ or 2’ with dips are used a few times. Third position seems to use the unaltered minor third in every situation, whether the key is major or minor. Your 2nd position songs, on the other hand, play around with the major third, flattening it a little or a lot, as needed. You have the same opportunities to play around with the third interval on hole 2 in 3rd position as you do on hole 3 when in 2nd position, yet you don’t. Why is that?
You bring up great points. The use of the F# on the chromatic is uncommon. Some players do use it... Mark Hummel comes to mind... but it's rare. The dip on the 2' for the diatonic harmonica in 3rd does happen, as you mention, but to be honest one has to be a damn good player to get to this point in their 3rd Position studies and be great at bending... very few make it this far... you have... pretty cool.
At this point in my studies, my questions are ahead of my techncial skills, but I'm getting there!
I feel my skill with harmonicas is slightly better than my knowledge of the theory. So if I am looking to play with a guitar playing g minor, e minor and b minor is there a harmonica that fits with all of those? and would you say if I already have a G and a C, that an A harp would be my next logical purchase?
Hello Jesse. I assume you're speaking of the Keys of Gm, Em and Bm... not those chords in a specific song. With that in mind, it depends on which position you're most comfortable playing in. For most players it's 2nd Position, so the following harmonicas will place you in those keys...
Gm = C Major Diatonic Harmonica
Em = A Major Diatonic Harmonica
Bm = E Major Diatonic Harmonica
Makes sure to study the lesson on minor on the site... you don't want to fake this.
If you like the idea of using a minor-keyed harmonica in 2nd Position, then you would use the same keys of harmonica, but the Lee Oskar Natural Minor harmonicas.
Many players like to play in 3rd Position, so here are the keys of harmonica for 3rd Position.
Gm = F Major Diatonic Harmonica
Em = D Major Diatonic Harmonica
Bm = A Major Diatonic Harmonica
If you don't have experience playing in 3rd Position, then start with 3rd Position Study 1.
Best wishes on this.
Great question HarpKat, thanks for bringing it up. Relative to Major, a Minor key lowers the 3rd, 6th and 7th scale degrees. Since blues uses minor elements in it (lowered 3rd, 5th and 7th in the blues scale for example), it gets down to the use or omission of the 6th in most cases (both diatonic and chromatic, in any position).
If you avoid the 6th (4 draw B for example on the chromatic in 3rd), then you can play well in minor. If you make use of the 6th, then you're helping your 3rd Position playing to not be too dark when playing to a band in major (too dark = inappropriate). Note that for all of the example in major, the 6th is emphasized, and the one in minor it's not used at all.